About this artist
Australian artist Ida Maree has had quite a musical journey. From the clubs of the Gold Coast, to the theatres of Sydney, and into the Black Gospel Churches of Melbourne, Houston, DC, Birmingham, LA, her travels and singing have encompassed the true path of a musician searching for the truth in her life.
Her debut album Saving Grace was acclaimed as The Album of the Year by Australia’s leading Christian Radio Charts, best known for the success of her songs Saving Grace and Butterfly. But while in Nashville in 2014, Ida came into contact with Grammy nominated producer Billy Smiley (WhiteHeart, Johnny Cash, Clay Aikens, Steven Curtis Chapman, Sandy Patty), and they developed a partnership, which didn't come around to making the music until all the pieces seemed fit together in 2018-19. For a year and a half, they have worked tirelessly towards defining her voice, sound, story, and songs.
Bringing her new album Chapter 2 to the forefront of music in 2020 will be the culminating effort of these likeminded souls. Smiley said, “Working with Ida has been a complete joy and effortless endeavor to create the music we both love and envisioned for this project.” He brought in a great cast of young musicians and engineers who are shaping the Nashville landscape; like Australian Jared Kneale on drums (Kacey Musgraves, Ben Rector, Hunter Hayes), Brennan Smiley of the pop / rock group “The Technicolors” on electric guitars, Akil Thompson on bass (Little Big Town), Blair Masters on Keys (Garth Brooks, Peter Frampton), and musician / engineer Jonathan Crone. Mixed by Billy Whittington (Amy Grant, Be Be and Ce Ce Winans, and Michael W Smith) and Jonathan Crone, the project has come full circle to a national release of incredible vocals and passion from Maree in Chapter 2 ‘in the fall of 2020.
Along with BGV gospel singers Larysa Jackson, Dwanna Hughes, and Martrell Harris, they have come up with an incredible soulful body of work not often heard in the marketplace; one that is both fresh, musically compelling, and yet with a special sense of power and vulnerability all rolled into this slim and quiet young artist named Ida Maree.
“The journey in the last 2 years of my life has been literally turned upside down and back; laced with heartbreak, musical completeness, sorrow, fear and the unknown in a new Chapter 2 of my life. And then to see the world plunge into a dark place at the beginning of 2020 has made all of these songs that much more impactful for anyone who might hear it,” Ida states. “When Billy and I were writing these songs, I never knew they would take on such meaning for me in that every line in every song speaks to me and my life. When I sing these songs for others, I feel deeply every word like never before.”
With the first single “Chapter 2’ hitting airwaves this summer, things are ramping up for this Australian phenomenon. Coming to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and airwaves near you, expect great things from Ida Maree in 2020!
Contact Info: Shadowlands Music / [email protected]
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